Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Kendall Francois

The Disappeared
During the late 1980s, when Argentina experienced a great deal of political unrest, opponents of the government
suddenly began to vanish off city streets. Frantic relatives appealed
to the authorities, who would do little or nothing to help them. A
strong suspicion developed that the government was deeply involved in
the abductions. In truth, these people were kidnapped by the police
themselves who frequently tortured or murdered the unfortunate victims.
Many were never seen again. They were called “los desaparecidos,” the
disappeared.

Something similar happened in Dutchess County in upstate New York
during the years 1997 and 1998. But “los desaparecidos” in this case
were not being abducted for political reasons. There were much darker
motives. And when the truth emerged, it would leave in its wake at
least eight women
dead and a frightened, angry community that was dumbfounded that a
serial killer could live and work undetected within their midst.The Women
In October 1996, Wendy Meyers, age 30, was reported missing to the Town
of Lloyd Police, in Ulster County, New York. She was described as a
white female, with a slim build, hazel eyes and short brown hair. She
was last seen at the Valley Rest Motel in Highland, a small town situated near the banks of the Hudson River just south of Kingston.

Wendy Meyers, victim

Two months later, in early December,
1996, Gina Barone was reported missing by her mother, Patricia Barone.
Gina was 29 years old and had a small build, brown hair and an eagle
tattooed on her back. On her right arm she had another tattoo that read
simply “POP.” She was last seen November 29, 1996 in Poughkeepsie on a street corner, apparently having a dispute with a man.

Poughkeepsie is a small city of 28,000 located 90 miles north of New
York City. Dutchess County has a long and dramatic history that can
easily be traced back to the Revolutionary War. Like any other modern
municipality though, Poughkeepsie has its problems. There is a small
but persistent drug trade centered in the downtown area
that periodically erupts into violence. Prostitutes can often be seen
working the same area and shootings are not at all uncommon. Some say
Gina was arguing over drugs on that November 29. But in any event, it
was the last time anyone could remember seeing her alive.

Downtown Poughkeepsie

Armed with this information, detectives
decided to maintain surveillance of Francois’ home at 99 Fulton Avenue.
But after several weeks of watching
the residence in January 1997, no new information was developed. One
prostitute cooperated with the police and allowed herself to be wired up
and meet with Francois. The girl worked her usual spots in the city’s
downtown area until Francois arrived in his white Toyota Camry.
Although she had clear instructions not to get into his vehicle, the
girl was able to engage Francois in conversation on a number of
occasions. Police monitored these meetings but again, no useful
information was obtained.

Two months later, on March 7, 1997, a woman named Catherine Marsh
was reported missing by her mother. Catherine was last observed
November 11, 1996 also in the city of Poughkeepsie. Four months had
passed since she was last seen alive which made her case very difficult
to investigate. Like the other girls, she was white, small build, blue
eyes and brown hair. Her clothes and personal items were still at her
apartment. Teletypes from across the nation were checked for recently
discovered D.O.A.s who had not been identified. It is a routine practice
for police to attempt to match up unidentified bodies with reports of
the missing. Rap sheets were requested on all the missing girls to
ascertain if they were in custody somewhere. Canvasses were made of the
neighborhoods where the women frequented and arrest records were
checked and re-checked. Specially-trained cadaver dogs from the Ramapo
Rescue Squad were utilized to search areas in and around the city. The
case came to a frustrating standstill with no workable leads and no
viable suspects. But as Lt. Siegrist pointed out: “We had no evidence
of criminality.” So on the surface, the cases were simply a series of
missing persons reports. But on another level, the Detective Division
was convinced something had happened to these women.

Catherine Marsh, victim

In April 1997, Poughkeepsie Police made a
decision to contact the F.B.I. for help. Although the F.B.I.
investigators were interested, they were limited by the circumstances
of the case. In order to establish a profile of a suspect, they needed a
crime scene. In this instance, there was no crime scene and worse, it
had not been established that a crime had even occurred. Simply put,
there was not much the F.B.I. could do.

On October 9, 1997, Michelle Eason, 27 years old, was reported
missing in the city of Poughkeepsie. She too was last seen in the
downtown area but unlike all the others, who were white, Michelle was
an African American. She was also slight of build, barely 5’2 and 115
lbs.

Michelle Eason, victim
Then, just one month later, on November 13, Mary Healy Giaccone, 29
years old, was reported missing. But this report was actually initiated
by the police. Mary’s mother died in October 1997. Mary’s father, a
retired New York State corrections officer, came to the police to ask
for help in locating her so he could give Mary the bad news. But police
soon discovered that Mary was actually last seen alive in February,
1997 on the same Poughkeepsie streets as some of the others. And like
all the others, Mary was small, 5’4” and weighed 110 lbs. Police
increased their efforts on the case. The similarities between the girls
were striking. All the girls lived in or near Poughkeepsie, all had
the same physical build, several of the girls had been arrested for
prostitution and most did not have regular contact with their families.
But all shared one common bond: they had simply vanished.

Main Street, PoughkeepsieThe Investigation
For the next few months, the police tried many different tactics to
locate the missing women. Helicopter searches were made of the Dutchess
County area by air. State Police searched the Hudson River and
municipalities along the shore on a regular basis. Police informants
were pressed for any information on the case. Hundreds of people were
interviewed. With no hard evidence and no bodies, police were stumped.
Although they realized the suspicious nature of the disappearances, the
investigation was at a standstill.

Poughkeepsie Police Department

But there was an ominous feeling among
the detectives. Former F.B.I profiler Gregg McCrary told the
Associated Press that the disappearances “were well beyond suspicious.”
And because some of the women were prostitutes made the situation
worse because prostitutes get into cars with just about anyone.

To complicate the situation further, different suspects continuously
drifted in and out of the case. One man from the South, who had
arrived in the Poughkeepsie area in the summer of 1997, became a
suspect when it was revealed he was a convicted rapist and also a
suspect in an unrelated missing persons. Almost to the very end of the
case, this individual was considered a major suspect in the
disappearances. Another city resident came to the attention of the
police when prostitutes said that he was very rough with the girls
during sex. In June of 1997, another local man was arrested for the
rape and assault of a Poughkeepsie woman. Later he was found to be in
custody during the disappearances of the first three women. A boyfriend
of one of the missing women was also considered suspect because he had
an extensive criminal record and had assaulted women in the past. But
as various suspects were developed and abandoned, Kendall Francois
remained on the list.
The public grew more concerned and criticism of the police was
growing. There was a feeling in the community that the police were not
taking the reports seriously since the missing women may have been
prostitutes. Early on, street people were well aware of the situation
since they were accustomed to seeing these women on a daily basis. The
disappearances were very obvious to them. But the police rejected the
criticism. Lt. Siegrist said “These girls don’t have set schedules. It
took time for the families to realize something was wrong, and then
they even thought for a while they might turn up.”
By the time the stories began to appear in the newspapers, the City
of Poughkeepsie Police had already working the case for more than
eight months. Of course, the public could not be told of the details
of that investigation, so the police had to take the criticism mostly
in silence.
In early January, 1998, Poughkeepsie Police made a decision to
interview Francois about the missing women. They staked out the
Francois home at 99 Fulton Avenue and soon discovered that Francois had
a routine that he often followed. In the morning he would take the
family car, drive his mother to work at a nearby psychiatric center
where she was a nurse, drop her off and then return to downtown
Poughkeepsie where he would cruise the streets.
On one cold morning, Lt. Siegrist and his detectives pulled over
Francois and asked him to come into the police department for an
interview. Francois, who had a calm and respectful demeanor, readily
agreed and drove his own car over to the police station. Francois was
interviewed over a period of several hours and answered all questions
police asked of him. Of course, police still had no concrete ideas
exactly what had happened to the missing girls and no clue where they
could be found. But Francois was easy to talk to and cooperative. The
police, however, were not convinced.
Poughkeepsie police accompanied him to his home where Francois even
let a detective inside his room for a brief time. The detective
reported back that the inside of the house was in horrendous condition.
There was garbage virtually everywhere he could see. It smelled awful.
But Francois made no admissions and said nothing incriminating. By
law, he was free to go about his business.
Then in late January, 1998 Kendall Francois was arrested for
assaulting a prostitute. The crime took place on the second floor of 99
Fulton Avenue. At that time , the girl said she was picked up by
Kendall Francois on Cannon Street, Poughkeepsie, near South Hamilton.
Kendall drove her to his house where he took the girl up to his room on
the second floor. They had a dispute over money and Kendall punched
her in the face, knocking her down onto the bed. He then got on top of
her and began to choke her with his bare hands. She agreed to have sex
with him and when he finished, he brought the girl back to Cannon
Street.
The victim reluctantly reported the incident to the police and
pressed charges against him. Francois was arrested and received the
assistance of an attorney. Later, on May 5, he pled guilty to
third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, in City Court. He spent a total of
15 days in jail.More Vanish
On June 12, 1998, Sandra Jean French, 51, disappeared. She was white,
5’, just 120 lbs., hazel eyes and a very slight build. She was reported
missing from the small town of Dover, which is about 20 miles east of
Poughkeepsie. Her car was found abandoned in the town of Poughkeepsie
barely three blocks from the Francois home.
In July, 1998, the Missing Women’s Task Force was formed, consisting
of full-time police investigators from the City of Poughkeepsie, Town
of Poughkeepsie and New York State Police. The task force was under
the command of City of Poughkeepsie’s Sgt. Michael Horkan. The task
force took up residence in the city’s downtown area at Market and Main
Street, not far from the police station. But the existence of the team
was not announced nor was it publicized. The formation of this team was
an unusual event because task forces such as these are usually
assembled after bodies are found and foul play is apparent.
The work load was enormous. Each tip or scrap of information had to
be evaluated and acted upon if it was deemed important. Every day
detectives studied the teletypes from National Crime Information Center
(NCIC). These teletypes originate from every police municipality in
the nation and report on every single unidentified body in America 365
days a year. Attempts to match up any of the girls to the reports were
fruitless. Many on the investigative team were convinced that the girls
were already dead, the victim of some unknown serial killer. Others
were not so sure. But the task force was ordered not to talk about any
details of the case, an essential point to any successful police
investigation. The need for confidentiality is paramount in murder
investigations, more so in a multiple homicide. The revelation of some
significant detail or the publication of some other aspect of the
investigation could alert the killer and wreck the case or, worse,
induce the killer to flee. “It’s a possibility that they are linked”
State Police Investigator Monte Martin told the press on July 26, 1998,
“but we can’t say anything at this point”.
Just one month later on August 26, 1998, Catina Newmaster, 25 years
old, vanished. Like almost all the others, she was slight of build,
brown hair and was last seen in the same downtown streets of
Poughkeepsie. At the police department, pressures to solve the case
were enormous. A sudden feeling of urgency descended upon the
community. There was real fear on the streets. People were afraid to
come outside, especially street dwellers.

Catina Newmaster, victim

“We’re low lifes, that’s what it comes
down to. People don’t care that we’re missing because they think we
don’t belong on the streets in the first place. It’s not just the
police, it’s the community,” a prostitute had told the Journal on July
26, 1998.

But they were wrong; the police were taking it very seriously and
had been for nearly 22 months. Thousands of hours of investigative work
had already been expended on the case. The City of Poughkeepsie
Police, Town of Poughkeepsie, Town of Lloyd, the New York State Police
and the F.B.I had all worked together on the investigation, which had
grown to epic proportions.
The families of the missing girls were numb from worry. In a prophetic
statement to the Albany Times, Patricia Barone, whose daughter had been
missing nearly two years, said: “If they find one of them, they’ll
find all of them, I’m sure of that.” She didn’t know how right she was.
Of course, she had no way of knowing that not far from the Market
Street office, where the members of the task force diligently processed
their paperwork every day, a house of horrors awaited them. The home
was set on a quiet residential block, in the shadow of famous Vassar
College — a dark, gloomy two-story house virtually across the street
from a funeral home. A house that neighbors and children knew well.
They saw it every day as they walked to work, parked their cars, rode
their bicycles, played on the street. The local mailman and some
neighborhood kids, the usual delivery people, they knew it too.
Everyone in the neighborhood knew the house well — because it stunk to
high heaven.
The Beginning of the End
On Tuesday, September 1, 1998, at about 8:30 in the morning in the
second floor bedroom of this same house, a young woman was quietly
being strangled. She was a slightly built woman who had gone there to
get paid for sex. The person who was trying to kill her was a very
large man, whom she had seen before on the city streets late at night,
cruising for girls. He had his huge hands wrapped around her throat,
his thumbs pressed deep into her flesh while she fought against him
with all the strength God could give her. Somehow, she wriggled free
and convinced the man to let her go. He agreed to drive her back to
Main Street where he had picked her up only a short time ago. They got
into his white car and drove to a local gas station. But just before
he pulled into the station, the girl jumped from the car and ran away.
The man continued to drive down the street.
At the same moment and less than one block away, Detectives Skip
Mannain and . Bob McCready were in their unmarked car preparing to hand
out flyers asking the public for help in the Catina Newmaster
disappearance.Within seconds, they saw the very large man in his
familiar white Camry and waved to him. The man quickly waved back
because he recognized Det. Mannain from previous contacts. It was
Kendall Francois.

As the officers pulled into the same gas
station that Francois just left, a man came up to the car and told the
police that a girl, who was now walking away, said that she was just
assaulted. Quickly, the cops located the girl, who confirmed the attack.
She was brought into the police station where she filed a complaint
against Francois.

That same afternoon, the police returned to 99 Fulton Street to talk
with Kendall Francois about this most recent attack. They asked him to
come into the police department to discuss the report. He agreed and
was taken to headquarters. Over the next few hours, Francois
eventually made many admissions regarding the disappearance of the
women. He was arrested and charged with a single count of murder in the
death of Catina Newmaster on August 26, 1998. The police were elated. A
search warrant was drawn up and signed. Then, on September 2, 1998,
shortly after midnight, a team of detectives, the district attorney,
EMS crews, crime scene processors and an army of cops drove over to 99
Fulton Street and entered into the house of horrors.The House of Horrors
Police knocked on the door and it was soon answered by Kendall’s
mother. The officers informed Kendall’s parents and sister of the
purpose of the visit. They were taken to the Town of Poughkeepsie
Police Department while the police began their search. Within the hour,
they located the first body. The house was immediately surrounded by
police and secured. “We were resolved to preserve the scene at any
cost,” said Lt. Siegrist. Rather than work the house throughout the
night, the New York State Police decided to process the crime scene
beginning at daylight.

Fulton Avenue

99 Fulton was a two-story green colonial
home situated in the middle of the block, sandwiched in between two
other similar houses. It looked like any other home on the block,
although it had a slightly run-down appearance. According to the Town
of Poughkeepsie assessor’s office, the house, which was built on less
than a quarter acre, sold in 1975 to a McKinley H. and Paulette
Francois for $11,500. The neighborhood is average when compared to
others in that section of town and many homes in that same area rent to
college students.

In the morning, the police, dressed in sterile white suits and
wearing anti-putrefaction masks, entered the home. The house was filled
with garbage that was strewn everywhere, on the floors, furniture, in
the sinks and closets. Clothes were piled on every inch of floor space
and sheets were pulled over the windows. One detective remarked in all
his years on the job, he had never seen such wretched living
conditions. The stench was overpowering, it permeated every room, every
corner and seeped out into the street like some toxic cloud.
Within one hour, hundreds of people gathered outside the building.
The word had spread that Kendall Francois had been arrested for murder.
Dozens of people from the media descended upon the neighborhood.
Spotlights and cameras soon lined the street as the police went about
their morbid business. Relatives of some of the victims arrived to
watch the gruesome story unfold. A woman’s body was found in the attic.
Then another. And still another. Some spectators ran from the scene,
gagging on the oppressive smell of death and garbage.

District Attorney William Grady(center) at the news conference

District Attorney William Grady told the
newspapers: “Based on what the suspect told us, the eight bodies are
inside that house.” Slowly, in a grim pageant of death, the bodies
were removed from the house. The corpses were in various states of
decomposition, some far advanced beyond the putrefaction stage. Insect
activity was widespread and there were indications of rodent presence.
The bodies were located in several different areas of the structure,
often covered with clothes or blankets.

The New York Daily News said, “When cops went to the green,
aluminum-sided house at 99 Fulton St., they were nearly bowled over by
the stench of rotting flesh.” Detectives knew that it would be days
before identifications could be made. Estimates of time of death in
such cases are difficult, if not impossible, to determine. There is
only one rigid rule: the longer period of time between death and the
estimate, the more inaccurate the estimate will be.
Also present in the growing crowd on Fulton Avenue was Patricia
Barone, mother of Gina Barone, who was reported missing back in
December, 1996. Mrs. Barone stood bravely with her family but she was
prepared for the worst. “In my head, I’d come to terms with it. I had a
feeling she was gone all this time. I always felt that when the good
Lord thought I was ready to hear it, I’d hear it,” she told reporters
from the N.Y. Times.

The crowd grows outside 99 Fulton Avenue
(The Poughkeepsie Journal)

Over the next five days, the police
investigators continued their search for bodies and evidence. The crowds
got bigger, the media was everywhere. Relatives of victims gathered
outside and held vigils in remembrance of their loved ones. On September
5, the eighth and last body was removed from the Francois home. By
then, the first body found was identified as Catina Newmaster, the last
girl to be reported missing. Identifications of Gina Barone, Sandra
French and Catherine Marsh quickly followed. A few days later, Wendy
Meyers, Kathleen Hurley and Mary Giaccone were also identified.

Police made another gruesome discovery: one body, later identified
as Audrey Pugliese, 34, was from New Rochelle, NY; she had not been
reported missing. How she came to be inside the house, no one knew.
Only the enigmatic Kendall Francois could provide a clue, but he wasn’t
talking. Kendall was charged with second-degree murder on the morning
of September 2. Represented by an attorney, he would not make any
further statements. But he was well known in the city of Poughkeepsie.
One prostitute told the Journal, “Most of us knew him. We did crack
together.”“Stinky”
Kendall Francois was born in the city of Poughkeepsie and grew up on
Fulton Street. He attended Arlington High School, where the 6’4”
teenager played football on the school team until he graduated in
1989. He joined the Army in 1990 and went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for
basic training. In 1993, Kendall attended class at Dutchess County
Community College as a liberal arts major. He continued as a student on
and off until 1998.

Kendall Francois in high school

Although he was not working at the time
of his arrest, he did have several jobs in the past. Kendall was
employed at the Arlington Middle School from 1996-97, which is a few
miles from Fulton Avenue, as a school monitor. Some teachers at the
school complained about Kendall’s behavior, especially toward the
female students. He often played with the girls in an inappropriate
manner, touching their hair and telling sexual jokes. Although he had a
clean record at the Middle School, children had a strange name for
Kendall. They called him “Stinky.”

During the time span surrounding the disappearances, Kendall
Francois lived at home with his mother, father and younger sister, who
continue to deny any knowledge of the killings. Many people wondered
how the parents could not have known what was going on? Especially
Kendall’s mother who was employed as a nurse for many years at the
Hudson River Psychiatric Center in Poughkeepsie. Surely at least she
should have suspected. But it was reported that Kendall had told his
parents a family of raccoons had died in the attic and he was having
trouble removing the carcasses. This explanation seemed to suffice. In a
statement issued through their attorney, the family had this to say:
“We find ourselves plagued by unimaginable circumstances. Our youngest
son is suspected of committing grave offenses from which his life hangs
in the balance. We have virtually lost everything, been dispossessed
of our home and cast into the street with only the clothes on our
backs….The family requests that under these extraordinary
circumstances, the public and media respect the only two items we have
now, our privacy and personal respect”.Guilty But Alive
On September 4, 1998 , Kendall Francois was indicted in Dutchess County
Court for murder in the death of Catina Newmaster. The indictment came
as the relentless search for bodies continued at 99 Fulton Avenue.
Forensic experts had already been summoned to assist county
investigators in the post mortem examinations. Special x-ray devices
were utilized at the home to locate bones and other body pieces that may
have been hidden inside walls or buried on the property.
In the pouring rain, the search continued. Onlookers in the street
huddled underneath umbrellas as the media took up a watch across the
street from the Francois home. Some small trees and bushes that were
growing in front of the property were cut down by the police and were
laying in a pile on the sidewalk. Flower bouquets and other memorabilia
from victim’s families and friends sat under a tree near the Francois
home. An eerie quiet permeated the scene and even the drenching rain
could not wash away the sadness of the crowd at 99 Fulton Avenue. A
few blocks away, at the Holy Trinity Church, a memorial service was
held for the victims on Tuesday night. The Rev. Richard LaMorte offered
comfort to victims’ loved ones and police alike, who had been
searching the house for a week with no break. He said to the press: “in
tragedies like this, you need a religious experience. I realize some
of those police are my parishioners.”

Kendall Francois under guard (The Poughkeepsie Journal)

The following day, on Wednesday,
September 9, 1998, the public got its first look at Kendall Francois as
he appeared in Dutchess County Court to enter a plea. Wearing black
pants and a white shirt, the big man stood silently before Judge Thomas
J. Dolan as a plea of “not guilty” was entered. Kendall showed no
emotion and seemed distant from the proceedings.
Some of the spectators became enraged. “He killed my daughter!” the
mother of one of the victim’s cried. Others almost had to be removed
from the courtroom by officers who struggled to control their emotional
outbursts. But when court officers asked some spectators to leave,
Judge Dolan permitted all the families to remain.

In his next appearance on October 13, 1998, he was formally charged
with eight counts of first-degree murder, eight counts of second-degree
murder and one count of attempted assault. In the state of New York,
first-degree murder includes serial murder. Upon conviction of this
charge, Francois could receive the death penalty. His attorneys were
well aware of this and, as a result, on December 23, they attempted to
enter a plea of guilty to the murders.
In the state of New York, prosecutors have 120 days from indictment
of first-degree murder to decide whether to pursue the death penalty
and must then notify the court of that intent. A death penalty in New
York can only be imposed by a jury, therefore a defendant who avoids a
trial removes the threat of capital punishment. As a result, Francois’
plea of guilty to a Murder 1 indictment, prior to prosecution’s
notification to court that they intend to seek the death penalty,
spared his life. The very next day, District Attorney Grady announced
that his office would seek the death penalty in Francois’ case.
However, the status of Francois’ guilty plea was unclear.
On February 11, 1999 the matter was decided in Dutchess County Court
when Judge Dolan ruled that the death penalty law, in the way it
currently applies, does not permit a plea of guilty prior to
prosecution’s filing of a death penalty case. The defense team appealed
the decision and the matter headed over to the State Court of Appeals,
one of the most liberal minded courts in the nation. The case was
heard on March 31, 2000. At issue was the crucial question of whether
Kendall Francois, and other future murder suspects who face execution,
will be able to avoid the death penalty, ironically, by admitting to
their crimes. The Appeals Court ruled that a defendant may not plea
prior to the D.A.’s filing notice of a death penalty case.
On the morning of August 7, 2000, the Dutchess County courthouse was
packed with spectators, friends and family members of the murder
victims. They sat for hours, their grief and anger steadily building
for what was to come. Then, at 1:10 p.m., a sudden hush fell over the
room. A side door opened and Kendall Francois, his huge six-foot-four
frame towering over the deputies, was led into the court. He had on a
dark blue button-down shirt, black pants and wore thin, wire frame
glasses. A few people cursed at him as he sat in his seat and stared
straight ahead.
As arranged through the District Attorney’s Office and the defense
team, Kendall Francois was sentenced to life in prison without parole
for the killing of eight women. He could be confined to his cell for as
much as 23 hours a day. The families of the victims were allowed to
make statements to the court as Francois sat in his chair. At times,
their rage and tears overwhelmed the court. “You took the child I had
waited so many years for,” said Marguerite Marsh, mother of victim
Catherine Marsh. “You are a cold-blooded killer, Francois!” said an
aunt of another victim.
Francois declined to make any statement but said through his
attorney: “He is deeply sorry for his actions.” He was led slowly out
of the court in chains as some spectators continued to curse him. On
August 10, 2000, Francois was processed into New York’s toughest
prison, Attica, where he remains today, inmate #A4160.
The ending to the story of Kendall Francois and “los desaparecidos”
has been written. However, for one family, the saga continues.
Michelle Eason, the only African American among the missing, has not
been found. As of May, 2000, she was still missing. “Although I
believed that she was a part of this in the beginning, I don’t believe
it anymore” Lt. Siegrist recently said, “All the girls involved in the
Francois case were white and were found inside Francois’ home.” There
are no new leads in her case. As in all missing persons incidents,
however, there are many possibilities. But up to now, her disappearance
remains a total mystery.

5 comments:

The opening paragraph to this article mentions Argentinians abducted and tortured by police for political reasons. A bizarre attempt is made to link the events in Argentina to a demented killer in upstate New York. There is absolutely no link between the death of Argentinians who opposed their government to the women murdered by Kendall Francois.

Kendall Francois is a deranged murderer who preyed on prostitutes. He murdered eight women and kept them in the house of rot and filth. Kendall Francois resided in this filthy house along with his parents and daughter. The bill was paid by the tax dollars of hard working Americans.

If the author wanted to denigrate a government and link it to Kendall Francois, the logical target would be the United States government. Kendall Francois and his family sustained their existence on government subsidies. This is what the American people receive in exchange for the confiscation of their hard earned labor by a malicious government.

Kendall Francois parents were both hard working people, and he was working at Arlington Middle School as a hall monitor at the time, I should know I went there while this was all happening. He lived three blocks down the road from me, and Catrina Newmaster (one of his victims) was my neighbors daughter, and friends older sister. In the opening paragraph all the author is trying to do is use a well known case to compare to what happened in this little covered case. It is true, most of his victims were drug addicted prostitutes who would go without contacting their families for weeks even months at a time. This is why when they disappeared it was not reported right a way and the police did not put much effort into finding them. It wasn't until there had already been several women reported missing all with similar descriptions that they thought it could be the work of a serial killer, but no bodies were ever found. The police started to look into him because when they questioned other known prostitutes about the missing women, his name came up serval times because he would get rough with the women. The police had approached him, he agreed to be interviewed and even agreed to take a polygraph test that he passed. Some time later his would be ninth victim escaped and was seen by people who then notified the police who picked her up and took her statement. This statement allowed them to get a warrant which lead them to finding the bodies.

Mary Healy GIacone is not pictures in the above article. Instead is a picture of Michelle Eason, a lady who was missing and murdered around the time Francois went on his killing spree. It has not been confirmed that she was one of his victims because she was an Afro-American and she did not fit the description of the women he had killed, which were white, brown hair and slim-built.